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Spitzer Fights Criticism That He Is a Hothead

ALBANY, Jan. 10 - With Republicans portraying him as a hothead, Eliot Spitzer began his counteroffensive on Tuesday by trying to play his temperament to his advantage.

"You will not change the world by whispering," Mr. Spitzer, the state attorney general, said, more than once, at an appearance where members of the Legislature's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus endorsed him for governor.

He added that he would not apologize for sometimes having sharp elbows in his dealings with politicians and financial titans. Other top Democrats said that his temper was an asset in a state whose legendary bureaucracy was in need of shaking up, and for a man who has made his name by pursuing Wall Street corruption.

"You will not sit passively by and observe quietly and passively and see the status quo change," Mr. Spitzer said, adding, "You need to speak back to authority, and you need to do it with passion and vigor and determination."

The comments came in a week that has seen Mr. Spitzer ramp up his campaign by announcing that he will start making recorded telephone calls to New York voters. He also offered legislation to curtail price gouging in sales of gasoline and home heating fuel -- a problem for many voters this winter.

But the temperament issue has been increasingly dogging Mr. Spitzer. The home page of the State Republican Party's Web site has been mostly given over to the subject, featuring a copy of a recent New York Post front page depicting Mr. Spitzer as Pinocchio for denying aspects of a particular episode. The party has also filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking e-mail messages related to other dust-ups.

The issue is significant enough that Mr. Spitzer and David A. Paterson, the Democratic minority leader of the State Senate, brought it up even before reporters were able to ask questions at a breakfast of the minority caucus on Tuesday.

Mr. Paterson said a reporter had called him last week and "asked me something about Eliot's temper."

He added: "You know what I think? It's about time. It's about time somebody has internalized the problems of New York. It's about time that somebody is rolling up their sleeves and showing a personal investment in the future of this state."

The issue of Mr. Spitzer's temper burst forth last month in a letter published by The Wall Street Journal, in which John C. Whitehead, the former Goldman Sachs chairman heading the corporation overseeing the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan, accused Mr. Spitzer of threatening him. Mr. Whitehead had been critical of the way in which Mr. Spitzer aired accusations against Maurice R. Greenberg, the former chief executive of the insurance giant American International Group. Mr. Whitehead wrote that Mr. Spitzer told him: "It's now a war between us, and you've fired the first shot. I will be coming after you. You will pay the price."

On the other hand, he also said that those "who are pushing back are those who feel beleaguered because we have caught them lying, stealing, cheating and defrauding the public; I will not apologize for the results we have gotten."

Whether the temper issue has traction remains to be seen. Stephen J. Minarik III, the chairman of the State Republican Party, thinks so.

"New Yorkers want a leader," he said in a statement on Tuesday, "not someone who makes threats or throws a temper tantrum every time he doesn't get his way."

Sheldon Silver, the Democratic speaker of the State Assembly, said he was "not concerned at all."

He added: "He has antagonized some of the power structure in this country. Some of that power structure is trying to fight back to make this impression."